Demon's Ditch
by Ogannago
Summary: Raziel Marsalis is a fire demon from Hell. He doesn't particularly enjoy burning dammed souls, so he travels state-side to become an adventurer. During what should have been a standard mission, an encounter with a magic necklace finds him in an alternate, futuristic world. Raziel doesn't particularly know how that happened, he's still slightly confused himself.
1. Chapter 1

**DISCLAIMER - I do not own RWBY**

Raziel decided that he should never have joined this raid.

It had begun with the tavern keeper asking if he was up for a job. Raziel, ever the opportunistic demon, had further inquired as to what the tavern keeper was offering. It had seemed rather standard: go into the old temple of the ice god Thrallum, and clear it of monsters. The pay was good, and his party seemed experienced.

Of course, that changed when they ran into said monsters. It was just his luck that the monsters they were tasked with eliminating weren't simple goblins and kobalds, but ice elementals.

Ice.  
Elementals.

Born of clashing, residual elemental energies from the Planes of Air and Water; ice elementals were craggy, glacial spires given life. With a body composed of segmented plates of sharpened ice that fold and shift over themselves, it was certainly more threatening than a goblin, and as Raziel knew, far more deadly.

Readying his crossbow, Raziel licked his lips and spoke.

"Stop."

His raiding party halted and turned to look at him, confused as to why the demon was holding them back.

"What is it?" said the paladin of their party, resting his hand on his longsword. "Too scared to fight somethin' that ain't a rat?"

"Those are ice elementals, decidedly more dangerous than anything we should be facing for this pay," Raziel responded coolly. "It would be better if we simply scoped out the area and made a plan, rather than charge in blindly"

"There's only a few of them, I'm sure we can take them" pointed out the half-angel healer, shuffling nervously. "Although, a plan wouldn't be-"

"That's the spirit!" guffawed the paladin as he clapped the healer on the back, and charged into battle, the rest of the fighters following.

Raziel gritted his teeth,

"Imbeciles..." he muttered, and swiftly took aim.

Releasing a breath, he pulled his crossbow's trigger, and send a bolt flying into what he assumed were the creatures eye sockets.

"**ARRAAGH**" it roared, thrashing around wildly.

Reloading another bolt, he slid behind a rock as a barrage of ice shards erupted from the Elemental and struck his previous position.

Pulling out his magic dagger, _Büyücü-Katil_, Raziel vaulted over his cover and stabbed the Elemental in the knee, and rolled underneath its legs.

As the creature was distracted by the blade in its leg, Raziel held out his free hand and concentrated until an undulating disc of fire shot from the palm of his hand and shattered the Elemental's head.

Huffing, Raziel bent to retrieve his dagger, when he heard the roar of one of its kinsmen suddenly getting closer.

Spinning wildly, Raziel had just enough time to see the Elemental slam into him and send him flying. Crashing against the cavern wall, he slumped down as white flashed through his vision. Moving his head weakly, he saw the icy fist bare down upon him, and suddenly, saw no more.

Raziel groaned and tried to sit up, his eyes refusing to open.

A force appeared on his body, and pushed him back down,

"_Rest now," _said a feminine voice, the angel he presumed, "_Rest and recover"_

He felt hands trail over his skin, leaving a magical residue that eased the pain in his body.

Flittering in and out of consciousness, Raziel heard voices speak as if he were dreaming.

"_Is he going to be alright?" _someone said, a gruff tone resonating through his head,

"_He needs to rest, he took two direct hits from those things, not to mention impact with the wall." _responded the angel,

"_We'll be camping out here for about half a day, make sure he's ready to move after that"_

Raziel stilled and fell back to sleep.

* * *

"Oh, come on!" Ruby groaned, setting down her controller.

"Hey, don't worry about it Rubes, eighth time's the charm!" Yang smirked, as her character performed a victory dance on screen.

Ruby glared at her sister. "All you do is spam the same attacks, it's not even hard!"

"And yet you're not doing it"

"Well, I'm trying to use all the combos and stuff, ya know? Like, actual skill?" replied Ruby indignantly.

"You seem to be losing pretty skillfully." Yang teased

Blake observed the two sisters arguing and sighed.

The weekend had come to Beacon, and Blake was passing the time reading books, while the siblings were playing video games. Weiss was, well, not doing much of anything. For Blake, this was a perfectly fine way to pass the time.

Ruby had other ideas.

"Come on guys, let's _do_ something instead of lounging around all day," she said, turning to the rest of her team. "Hey, you know what? We should go down and do something in Vale. Oh! I know! What if we went to see a movie?"

Weiss looked up from her scroll.

"Perhaps. I am bored as well," she said, rolling her neck.

"It's settled then! Meet me at the airfield at 4." Ruby said. "I'm gonna go work on Cresent Rose. Bye!"

Ruby disappeared in a trail of petals as she rushed out of the dorm.

Blake sighed again.

* * *

Raziel's eyes shot open, and he rolled over to grab his crossbow.

Getting up, Raziel observed his surroundings.

The tents of his party members were still up, but he saw no one.

"Hello?" he called, his voice echoing around the icy caverns.

"_No response..." _he thought to himself.

"Interesting." he mumbled.

Checking his bedroll, he found his pack and hauled it onto him, and checked for his dagger.

Finding everything in place, Raziel made his way through the camp. A cursory examination revealed that his entire party was gone.

"_Strange. Where could they have gone?"_

As if responding to his thoughts, he felt a glow behind him.

Raziel turned and saw a small glass neckless, shining on the cavern floor.

Crystals crunching underfoot, he walked forward and picked up the neckless.

Intricate golden bands ran through the small glass globe located in the center of the neckless, with a shimmery silver chain holding it together.

Turning it in his hands, his fingers came upon a small indentation in the ball. Frowning lightly, he pressed his finger into the indentation

The ball flared with white light and grew unbearably hot.

"_Wha-?_"

Feeling a pull in his guts, he found himself spasming in pain, his body burning in the radiant energy that surrounded him.

Raziel screamed and dropped to his knees.

Then, as suddenly as the pain had come, it stopped, and he found himself free falling in a pale, blue sky.

"I **HATE MAGIC" **he screeched as he flailed uselessly, desperately trying to halt his descent.

As he fell, he forced himself to calm down and assumed an arched position to control his movement. Taking in surroundings, he spotted what seemed to be a castle underneath him.

Shooting a rope dart from one of his hand-mounted crossbows, he went limp as the dart wrapped around the topmost tower of the castle and swung inwards.

Now heading steadily towards the castle, he shifted his body and crashed through a window.

Tucking his legs in as he came in, he rolled and came up with the other hand crossbow in his right hand, and wielding _Büyücü-Katil _in his other hand.

Snarling, he prepared to cut down any vicious enemies who came to him. Demonic fire erupted from his eyes, and his horns glowed with a dark sheen, as he stood, ready for battle, fit for legends.

Three teenage girls stared at him.

He blinked.

The first girl on his immediate right was a busty blond, with an exposed midriff, and long flowing hair.

The one on his left had locks of pure white, and a regal expression, high cheekbones, and eyes of ice.

The last girl, directly in front of him was a black-haired beauty, with eyes of amber, and a black and white vest.

The blond reacted first. "Hey there, big boy," she said, smirking as he shifted uneasily, his eyes darting between the three girls. "Care to tell us why you just crashed through our window?"

"..." Raziel responded smartly.

The dormitory door clicked and swung open as a red-caped, young girl stepped in.

"Hey, I left my scroll here, do you know where... it is..."

The words trailed off as she stared at the foreign man who had come out of nowhere in the span of a minute.

"Um, why are your eyes on fire?"

Raziel stiffened and forced his body forward as he dematerialized into a flash of dark flames.

Flowing past the first three girls, he rematerialized into his physical form, and grabbed the caped girl from behind, locking her arms with his hand, and holding his dagger to her throat.

"Hey!" she cried indignantly. "Lemme go!"

"Quiet." Raziel responded, turning his eyes to the other girls. "You move, she dies."

Raziel, of course, had no intention of killing the girl, but he couldn't afford being asked questions. He needed to find out where he was, and keep moving.

Suddenly, the girl in his grasp turned and seemingly disappeared into...

"_Into a trail of rose petals?"_

The child appeared with the other three girls, and without his leverage, the blond teen, promptly shot forward at him, eyes blood red, as her hair glowed like a flame.

Lunging to the side, Raziel narrowly dodged a punch that had _**annihilated the god's dammed wall**_**.**

"_H-Holy Hell, what are they feeding these children?"_

The blond girl pulled her hand from the wall and glared at him with murderous intent.

"You don't get to mess with my sister. Fuck with the bull, and you get the horns!"

Darting forward, the girl slammed her hands together as they clicked, and she pointed at him.

The impact from the projectiles she had sent towards him had him flying through the open door and landing on the hallway floor.

Clutching his stomach, Raziel found several small holes where the projectile had pierced past his skin and armor.

The blond girl wasn't finished, it seemed, as she erupted from the doorway and leveled both her fists in a downward spiral.

Towards him.

"YANG! NO!" a voice shouted, sounding panicked

"_Oh gods, this is going to hurt."_

The fists slammed into his already wounded stomach as blood flew everywhere.

Slumping back down as the life drained out of him, Raziel's last image was the sight of the blond fighter's horror filled eyes as she realized what she just did.

* * *

Oh, God.

Oh God, Oh God, Oh God.

She had just killed a man.

Yang Xiao-Long had just _killed a man_.

Sure, that man was probably evil, seeing as he held her sister at knifepoint. But she assumed that the man had Aura, since he seemed to have a fire-based semblance.

Blood was everywhere, soaked into the walls, the floor, her own hands.

She turned shakily and saw Ruby and the rest of her team surveying the carnage, shock and horror in their eyes.

"S-Someone has to g-get Ms. Goodwitch." she said, tears beginning to glisten her face.

Approximately a minute later, Ms. Goodwitch arrived, and upon seeing Yang and the intruder's body, her eyes widened.

"Ms. Long! What happened here?"

Yang took a shaky breath.

"H-He came flying through the window, and he held Ruby at knifepoint. I... I got angry, and... I t-though he had Arua, I didn't know professor, I swear I didn't know! He used some kind of fire power, I thought it was his semblance, I didn't know, I swear!" she said hysterically.

"Ms. Long, calm yourself. I believe you, but we need to deposit the body first, then contact Headmaster Ozpin"

Turning to the body, she pointed her riding crop at it, and it began to float into the air.

Goodwitch turned and caught the eyes of the other girls.

"You may come along, as well, if you'd please. Your testimony may be needed."

With that morbid statement, Ms. Goodwitch turned, and walked down the hallway, the body following eerily behind her.

Raziel gasped as he shot upwards.

Steadying his breathing, he moved his head to observe around him. He seemed to be on some sort of examiner's table, probably because they thought him to be dead.

Being a Tiefling meant he couldn't truly die by most conventional means, so instead, he temporarily shut down as his wounds healed themselves. They didn't heal much, only enough so they were not immediately life threating. Of course, they would be if he didn't stop infection from setting in, and he didn't particularly enjoy dying.

So, his motivations assured, Raziel got off the table and stumbled towards the door, and yanked it open.

He found himself inside what looked to be a healing ward, like back home at the human churches he often stole from. In front of him were a group of people, talking in hushed tones, and with an air of extremity.

Raziel raised a fist to his mouth and cleared his throat.

Six figures turned to greet him, and he recognized four of them.

The four girls, blond, red, black, and white, he knew. The other two, however, he could not place.

One was obviously the healer, judging by her attire and demeanor.

The other must have been some sort of commander, or an authority figure. A matron, perhaps.

"_Selamlar, _ladies. I apologize for my inconvenience, but I do appear to be bleeding from my everywhere."

The girls and other two women started him in shock for a second, before they all broke into shouting and moved towards him.

Raziel winced as his eardrums pounded against his skull.

"How are you alive!? I checked your pulse, you were dead!"

"Yes, I tend to do that" Raziel muttered. "We can exchange explanations later, but I'd quite rather some medical attention at the moment."

The healer glared at him, and pushed him into a bed by the windows, and drew a kit from the nightstand next to him.

"I'm going to have to anesthetize you, cleaning the wounds is going to be extremely painful, as well as pulling out the bullets."

"Anesthetize?" he said cautiously, his hand twitching for his dagger.

"I'm going to put you to sleep so you won't feel the cleanup surgery, you'll be perfectly fine, I assure you."

Raziel nodded. "I see. You may continue."

The nurse pulled away an produced a needle, which she injected into the veins on his arm.

"It'll take a minute or two to take effect. Ms. Goodwitch, I'm going to have to ask you to leave to allow our patient to recover. You four as well." she said, motioning to the four girls.

She nodded.

"Come along children, we must speak to the Headmaster." the assumed Ms. Goodwitch said.

"Is he going to be ok?" the blond girl asked, looking over him, her eyes full of guilt and worry.

"I will survive. Probably" Raziel responded dryly. "What is your name, _küçük ejderha?"_

She shifted on her foot, clearly not expecting any sort of talk from him.

"Yang Xiao-Long." she said, not meeting his eyes.

"Mm. Strange name for a strange girl." he said, moving his hand out in a handshake. "Raziel Marsalis. Pleased to make your acquaintance."

She took it hesitantly and shook.

"_Probably expected me to try and stab her." _he thought.

"Ms. Long, the patient needs to prep for surgery, you can talk more tomorrow." said the healer, her words becoming slurred as his eyelids drooped, the anesthesia coming into effect

"Goodnight, Yang Xiao-Long." Raziel said before he closed his eyes, and darkness began to creep at his vision.

"Goodnight, Raziel." Yang said softly, as he was claimed by the empty void once more.

* * *

**AN: My first writing project in a while. Review, please.**

**_Büyücü-Katil - _Mage-killer**

**_Selamlar _\- Salutations**

**_küçük__ ejderha – _Little Dragon**

**_Tiefling_ \- Fire Demon, from the ninth ring of Hell.**

**Excepted Update Date: Next Week.**


	2. Chapter 2

**DISCLAIMER – I do not own RWBY**

Yang sat on her bunk, staring silently at her wall as she tried to understand what exactly had just occurred last night.

The man she had killed was alive, how that was possible, she didn't know.

She had seen him die, watched him bleed out as the life drained from his silver eyes, and yet he came stumbling out of the blue, looking practically no worse for wear!

Well, that was a lie, he still had bullets imbedded in him, but even then, he had somehow survived that with no Aura.

And that was another thing, how had that man managed to turn into a blaze of fire and reappear behind Ruby, yet had no Arua? She had assumed he had a fire-based semblance, but she knew now that couldn't be the case.

After talking to Headmaster Ozpin, she was cleared of any charges that might have come, and wasn't punished due to the circumstances, the rest of her team insisting that they would have done roughly the same should he have threatened one of them.

Regardless, she still felt terrible for what she had done to him. All she had wanted to do was to knock him around for threatening her sister, not _kill him._

"Yang?"

She looked up. Ruby was facing her, sympathy in her eyes.

"We're going to go down to Vale, do you wanna come with?"

Looking back down, she mumbled, "Nah, you go ahead."

"Alright..."

The rest of her team filtered out, Ruby taking one last sad look at her, before closing the door.

Yang went back to staring at wall, and sighed.

"_Maybe I should say sorry to him, I did kill him after all."_

Shaking off how casually morbid that statement sounded, she swung her legs off her bunk and jumped down.

"_He's probably woken up by now, it's been a whole day" _she thought, opening the door and stepping out into the hallway.

Walking through the school, she wondered what she would say to him.

"_How do I even apologize for something like that? Yeah, sorry for killing you, but not really._

_Maybe just an "I'm sorry" will do..."_

Pausing in front of the infirmary, she knocked on the large wooden doors, and waited.

The door opened and a nurse stood behind them.

"Yes?" said the nurse.

"Hey, I'm here to see Raziel. Is he awake?" Yang responded, trying to peer into the room.

The nurse gave her a firm look. "Raziel is awake, but he still needs rest, it would be best if you came back another time."

"Please? I'll be in and out in a moment."

The nurse pursed her lips. "Five minutes."

Yang beamed. "Thanks Miss!"

She stepped inside and spotted Raziel in the far corner of the room, looking out the window.

As she approached, Raziel turned his head and watched her as she drew nearer.

"Hi." Yang said, sitting down on the bed next to his. "You doing ok?"

"Adequate enough, given the circumstance. Yourself?"

"Same, I guess." she answered, shifting uneasily. "Look, I came to apologize about last night. I, um... am pretty defensive of my sister and, well, I thought you were an Aura user, so I didn't think I would hurt you too much."

Raziel raised his eyebrows. "I see."

Tilting his head slightly, Raziel spoke. "I didn't think you would apologize considering I threatened your sister with bodily harm. Assuming you forgive me, I accept your apology."

"Uh, right." Yang responded awkwardly. "Apology accepted, I guess."

Raziel closed his eyes and hummed again, and Yang redirected her gaze to floor, unsure of what to say next.

"Aura?" he said, breaking the silence.

Yang looked back up at him blankly. "Do you not know what Aura is?"

"Can't say that I do, _ufaklık_"

"Where are you from? Outside the kingdoms?" Yang inquired.

Raziel hummed noncommittally. "Something like that. A faraway land named _Asmoundia_"

"Huh. Never heard of it."

She glanced at his forehead. "Are you a Faunus?"

* * *

"_Faunus?_"

Raziel remembered that name from his study of ancient deities. It was the name of a horned nature god, but clearly, she meant something else by it.

Perhaps she meant if he was a follower of the god?

"Yes, I am a Faunus."

"What kind?"

"Beg pardon?"

"What kind of Faunus are you?" she said, motioning to his horns and tail.

Oh. That made more sense.

"_Fanaus must mean part-animal in this place."_

"Ah, I am a ram Fanaus; my mother was a ram."

She stared at him.

"You're a ram Fanaus with a lizard's tail, red skin, and an actual ram for a mother?"

He blinked. "Erm... yes?"

Thankfully, the nurse came to his aid.

"Five minutes, Ms. Long, let's let Raziel get his rest."

"_Saved once by healing, and once by chance." _

"It has been a pleasure, Ms. Long. Please do bring your team next time, I would like to apologize to your sister as well."

She nodded. "I'll tell her that. See you around, Raz."

"_Raz?" _he mused, "_A strange girl, indeed."_

Her earlier comments about his origins rang in his ears, and reminded him that he had no idea where he was, and no grasp of the culture here.

He grunted; this would not do. His demonic nature would likely land him in prison should they determine it, not to mention he was already on thin ice for the hostage situation.

Raziel decided that his next order of business was to find a library, or any form of reliable information.

Lifting his head, he spied the healer across the room sitting at a desk, bent over some paperwork.

"Miss?"

Her head whipped up. "Yes? What is it?"

"Could I be permitted to acquire some books? It's rather boring being in here, I'm sure you know."

Glaring at him, she muttered. "4 years of medical school to become a book fetcher. Very well, I'll put in a request. What do you want?"

Unabashed by her vicious glare, he replied. "Some history books and reading on the kingdoms wouldn't be amiss."

"Done." tapping something he couldn't see, she muttered a few words, and then went back to her paperwork.

Not willing to push it, he settled back into bed, and with all _legal_ paths of action explored, resumed his exciting day of doing absolutely nothing.

"_What fun my week has been..." _he thought to himself darkly.

* * *

Neo groaned silently as she lolled her head, bored out of her mind.

Cinder and her band of merry idiots had her confined to this academy, filled with rules and restrictions and punishments and _blah blah blah._

Beacon was **so boring**!

She had thought that an academy for Huntsmen would be far more exciting, with a lot more brutal combat training rather than note taking and paper writing.

Worst of all, she couldn't do anything illegal, lest she reveal herself to the Beacon authorities.

The door to the dorms opened, and light footsteps drew closer to the couch.

"Neo."

Oh great, busywork.

"According to Mercury's report, there's a dead man housed in the infirmary."

Neo raised her eyebrows as if to say "_So?"_

"It appears that said man has somehow come back to life," said Cinder.

"_...Wait, what?_"

"I want you to investigate the stranger, find out what you can about him, and determine if he is a threat." said Cinder, pausing for a moment, "Mercury described him as tall, red-skinned man, with bony horns and a scaly tail."

Neo's lips quirked upwards. Finally, something interesting.

Honestly, she wasn't that worried about it, but she found herself intrigued nonetheless.

She nodded her affirmation, and jumped off the couch.

Landing on the floor, she reached towards the door handle.

"And Neo?"

Her hand stilled.

"If he is a threat, I expect him to be disposed of."

She nodded again, and throwing open the door, stepped into the hallway and disappeared with the sound of shattering glass.


	3. Chapter 3

**DISCLAIMER – I do not own RWBY**

Raziel grimaced and set down his book.

In the first few chapters, he had first come across the mention of the Kingdoms and their history. He had raised his eyebrows; it was certainly a colorful story. When he came across the talks of technology that surpassed even the most advanced Dwarven machines, his eyebrows had risen into his hairline. Then, he read about Grimm, Dust, Huntsmen, Semblances, and how _literally every single huntsman on the face of the continent had "Aura", __**soul magic**__ that protected them from damage._ At this point, Raziel's eyebrows had seceded his face and had begun their own nation-state.

A hand reached up to grasp his forehead, and he muttered curses under his breath.

When he had found himself dead and resurrected in the infirmary, he figured the situation to be non-optimal, but still manageable. He had been in similar situations; it would be a simple matter to heal and then escape. But this? This was more than sub-optimal; this was simply _non_-optimal.

Raziel's eyes shifted to the healer, or "nurse", sitting at the far corner of the room. No doubt she was one of these Huntsmen, and likely trained better than the students here, which presented another grave worry.

The Students.

The blonde girl, Yang Xiao Long, was a first-year student, and she had killed him. If she had that strength and speed as a first-year student, then he would stand almost no chance in direct combat against the teachers of upperclassmen. He would have to resort to trickery and cheating if he wanted to escape this place.

The first order of business was to establish a fake backstory, something vague and not easily verifiable. According to what he had read about the kingdoms, Vauco would be the optimal choice. He could claim that he was a denizen of the Vauco wastelands, an outlander, or some form of a recluse.

The truth would most probably doom him.

The abilities and strength of the native fighters here were impressive for even the more powerful spell-swords and sorcerers, but he would nonetheless have a difficult time playing off his many abilities as Semblances. And if they discovered that he was a demon? Well, it stood obvious that he would probably not be treated favorably.

Raziel gritted his teeth. He had already used one of his demonic powers, something that would no doubt be attributed as a Semblance, but regardless, forced him to play the role of a fire-based fighter.

While adept at such, his specialty was in deception and infiltration. He oftentimes couldn't face enemies head-on, and instead relied on distractions and manipulations to achieve victory. This would prove to be a major determent to his abilities.

The wooden doors sounded.

The nurse rose from her station and pulled open the large door.

A professional-looking woman stood with a riding crop behind her back, a teacher he'd assume, facing the nurse.

"Ms. Goodwitch. How may I help you?"

The woman spoke crisply, "I have been instructed to retrieve Mr. Marsalis, the headmaster wishes to speak to him. Is he fit to walk?"

The nurse nodded. "He should be fine as long as he avoids strenuous activity."

Raziel sighed internally.

He'd expected such but was disappointed with the time frame given to him. Assuming the walk to the headmaster's office would take only a few minutes, it didn't give him much time to complete his false story.

Sitting up, he swung his legs off the bed and moved slowly towards the doors. Goodwitch's eyes were a light green, sidled with thin ovular glasses that reflected sharply off the infirmary lights. Her pupils tracked his movement with unerring precision and gleamed with a stern intelligence and the promise of pain upon retaliation.

"_Dangerous," _Raziel thought to himself. "_Very dangerous."_

* * *

"_Dangerous," _Glynda thought to herself. "_Very dangerous."_

She glanced at the man who was walking beside her.

Raziel was a tall, thin, red-skinned man, with lithe, bony horns running alongside his hair from his forehead. He had a rough face, with harsh scars adorning his cheeks, and eyes that spoke of cunning mischief.

No matter how hard she tried, Glynda couldn't relate this cool, calm visage to the image of the dying man. He had been practically splattered across the hallway, and covered in blood. Yet here he stood beside her, looking no worse for wear.

No matter the circumstance, however, she made it a point to remember that he had essentially broken into the school and held a student at knifepoint.

"_What is he? And what does he want?"_

They continued down the halls in silence, her heels clicking on the smooth stone floor.

"This is an interesting weapon. It makes quite the image, no?"

Turning sharply, she saw the Faunus holding her riding crop, examining it closely.

"Can't say it seems particularly effective-"

Holding out her palm, she willed the crop to return to her. The crop flew forward and nestled itself into her hand.

As soon as her weapon was returned, she pointed at the intruder and flicked upwards. With the sound of creaking wood, the man slammed into the wall, restrained against it.

"Allow me to inform you of your situation, Mr. Marsalis," Glynda intoned calmly, as Raziel struggled against the invisible force. "You are allowed to walk free at the current moment because of your injuries. If you weren't, I would have you jailed for threatening my student."

Leveling her eyes into his, she spoke slowly. "Let me be frank, should you attempt such a thing again, I will _personally_ launch you into the Emerald Forest."

Dropping him, she turned and began walking again.

Soon, she heard the sounds of his footsteps resume, as silence reigned once more.

* * *

The intruder's eyes glanced back at her, then back to Ozpin, and sat down across from the headmaster.

Stepping forward, Glynda took her place next to the headmaster and began speaking.

"Headmaster, this is Mr. Marsalis; he's been deemed healthy by the medical staff."

Ozpin hummed. "Quite miraculous. How do you do, Mr. Marsalis? I've been informed that you were in quite the state when you arrived here."

The man was silent, eyes darting between Ozpin's cane and smiling face. After a few moments of deliberation, he spoke, words careful and measured.

"What did you do?"

Ozpin's eyebrows furrowed, and he spoke curiously. "Do? I'm afraid I don't follow."

Raziel studied Ozpin's form further, and Ozpin raised an eyebrow questioningly. Glynda watched as the man trailed the headmaster's forum, halting as he made contact with his eyes.

"You smell like damnation." said Raziel, leaning forward, placing clasped hands on the table. "Reek of it, in fact."

He smiled, and leaned back again, hands drumming against the polished wood.

"So, I'll ask again. What did you do?"

Glynda's eyes widened, and she looked to Ozpin.

The headmaster had gone still, his hand gripping the handle of his cane tightly, looking more somber than Glynda had ever seen him before.

Ozpin stood, and towered over the Faunus man, who seemed none the iller at ease.

"Who are you?" demanded the headmaster, eyes narrowed. "What do you know?"

"Know? I don't _know _anything about you Mr. Headmaster. All I can tell is that something haunts you. Any other of my kind would be able to tell."

Ozpin's eyes glinted in some unknown emotion that Glynda couldn't decipher, and his expression changed from surprise to recognition.

His face dawned in understanding, and he lowered himself into his seat.  
"I see now." Ozpin stated. "You are one of them?"

Raziel seemed pleased. "I was under the impression that the tales of my kind were not commonplace here."

"Oh, they aren't. I tend to investigate many a strange thing." Ozpin replied, sipping from his thermos. "I'll have to ask, do you come from afar?"

Glynda's eyes darted between the two of them in abject confusion.

"Just a hop, a skip, and a leap away in the astral plane." drawled Raziel.

"Astral plane...?" mumbled Glynda. "What in tarnation?"

"If you are truly what you say you are, would mind me asking what you're doing here?" asked Ozpin. "I'm afraid you did threaten my student, so we'll have to ascertain your reliability."

Raziel scowled. "I'm not here by choice. Got deposited here after interacting with some artifact. No doubt whatever magic that brought me here is spent; at the very least dulled."

"Hold on," Glynda began, "Magic? What do you mean?"

"And unless I could somehow get to contacts in the pits, then I can achieve very little in the manner of returning to my home." said Raziel, ignoring her.  
"One moment..." Glynda intoned, before being cut off by Ozpin.

"If we cannot return you, then I'll be sorry to inform you that we will have to restrain you from leaving. It's far too risky to have one of your kind running amok in a place where they shouldn't exist."

Raziel's face soured.

"I suppose I don't have a choice, really."

"Not particularly, no."

_Crack!_

Glynda's crop slammed into the table, which rattled precariously as Beacon's disciplinarian started down the two startled men.

"Will _someone_ please explain what exactly is going on here!?"

The two males glanced at each other, and Ozpin rose.

"Well, I believe that settles it. Glynda." Ozpin said pleasantly, "You have a new assistant professor. Congratulations Mr. Marsalis, welcome to Beacon."

The reaction was immediate.

"W-What?" sputtered Raziel.

"WHAT?" screeched Glynda.

"Ouch," winced Ozpin, "Do be a tad softer, Ms. Goodwitch."

* * *

"And these will be your quarters." ended Glynda.

The new professor stepped inside, examining the room before him.

The room was small, with odd furniture centered by the windows, and a paltry kitchen area.

"How quaint." he drolled, before turning back to Glynda.  
"Well, I suppose you'd have questions."

Glynda had more questions than she knew what to do with, but she went for the most obvious.

"Ozpin mentioned "Your kind". What exactly is it that you are?"

"Demon." he replied simply, rooting around in the cupboards.

"I beg your pardon?"

"Demon, woman. I am a demon; have you heard of hell?"

"You mean to tell me," Glynda responded incredulously, "That you, a man who got punched to death by a seventeen-year-old girl, is a demon from the depths hell?"

Raziel paused in his ministrations. "Well when you say it like that..."

"This is ridiculous! Do you actually expect me to believe you? To be expected to work with you?" Glynda burst, "What was Ozpin thinking hiring you!?"

She went silent as Raziel turned to face her, and she saw where once was a pair of red eyes was replaced by black pits of flames that roared and stretched unnaturally, as if trying to consume the socket it was held in.

"Demon." he stated simply. "A fire demon from the ninth plane of hell, Tartarus. They call our kind _Tieflings_."

The flames receded, as his red eyes reformed into his eye sockets, and turned back to the cupboard.

He searched for a few beats before making a sound of disappointment.

"No tea."

* * *

**Well, it's been a while.**

**I apologize for taking so long to update, but I've been inordinately busy. Regardless, I'd like to identify the backgrounds of this real quick.**

**There are multiple terms and phrases here that I borrow from various sources, such as The Forgotten Realms, The Witcher Series, and Unearthed Arcana books.**

**The background isn't actually the setting of these books, but will contain elements of them; I plan to flesh Raziel's home realm in further chapters.**

**Expected Update Time – 03/23/2020**

**Until the next chapter.**


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